I got onto this thread from the weekly email and am a liitle taken back that the "fib retracements" are getting so little respect from this group. It is always good to know where these levels are because they are predictive and they are honored. I see this all the time in real time. There is something quite mysterious about the fibs as one poster pointed out they are found through out nature and art. This is very true. One thing for sure, you had better not go short when a stock is approaching its 61.8% retracement and you better take most of your profit when it hits the 127.2% retracement and the rest of your profits at the 161.8% retracement level. TDA in their ThinkorSwim platform has a very easy application tool to put these on your charts with a couple of clicks.
anyone that knows how to use fibs would never trade without them. The reason they work is very simple. A vast majority of algos are constructed using them along with fib fans which determine the trend lines. Just ask anyone who has worked for a systematic hedge fund that employs pHD math heads who constantly tweak the algo's.